Dhaka
I had wanted to come to Bangladesh for a couple of reasons: firstly, I know nothing about the country as a country, and secondly, there are a number of ancient Hindu and Buddhist sacred sites in this predominantly Muslim country, and I wanted to see if and how they were preserved. As I knew I wouldn’t have the nerves to drive in Bangladesh, I searched on the internet for a local guide with driver. After comparing and checking a couple of tour agencies, I chose Dhaka Holidays as Azim, the owner, who is also the guide, has a background in local history. This meant that I could be pretty sure he would be able to explain what I was seeing. I also believe it is better to go with the smaller local companies than the large international ones. If something happens, the local folks generally know their way around the system and can get the help needed. And with the pandemic, local tour guides have been out of work and need all the jobs they can get.
Azim met me at the airport and brought me to the hotel. On the way, I had my first introduction to Dhaka traffic. I don’t think I will ever complain about Salzburg’s or Salt Lake’s again!
We started the next day with a brief stop by the Parliament buildings, which were built by an American architect in 1969, just prior to the country’s independence from Pakistan. Originally, the buildings were for the governmental seat of East Pakistan. The buildings are impressive and still appear very modern. The area around them is filled with parks and greenery, in contrast to the rest of the concrete and exposed electrical wires elsewhere in the city. The traffic is simply not to be believed. Delhi’s is bad, but Dhaka’s is worse. Carts, bicycle rikshaws, trucks, busses, and cars all via for space to finagle their way through with horns blaring nonstop. Most of the time, things just seem to stop, and then a few minutes later, crawl a few meters. It seems like any normal rules of the road are ignored because by following them, the person/vehicle would not get anywhere. Once we were finally able to make our way from New Dhaka to the Old part of the city, which is only about 400 years old, so still fairly new by European and Indian standards, we went to the National Hindu Dhakeshwari Temple. There are a series of four rooms in one building each with a Shiva lingum. The main temple has statues of Durga and Shiva. Dhakeshwari is the oldest temple in the city and is recognized as one of the official Shaktipeeth site; a jewel from Sati’s crown is supposed to have fallen here. Some say that it is possible the name for the city came from the Temple, but this isn’t proven. The name does mean “Goddess of Dhaka,” however, and although the 800-year-old Durga statue that used to reside here was taken to West Bengal, a replica is in its place. “According to legend Dhakeshwari was built in the 12th century by King Ballal Sen of the Sena dynasty. It is said the king dreamt of a statue of the goddess Durga buried in the jungle and after finding the statue installed it in his temple as Dhakeshwari. The current architectural style of the temple cannot, however, be dated to the 12th century because of the numerous renovations, repairs and rebuildings that have taken place over time. The present temple is two hundred years old and was built by an agent of the East India Company, though quite probably the agent merely renovated the existing temple.”
(https://sacredsites.com/asia/bangladesh/dhakeshwari_temple_dhaka.html)
The complex was severely damaged during the 1971 Liberation Revolution; the Pakistan army used the main hall as an ammunition’s storage area. It was again vandalized by Muslim mobs during the 1989-1992 upheavals. The government now owns the space, and the temple complex is much smaller than it originally was, but renovations are currently going on to include adding worship space in the front. There were a few people worshipping, but mostly it was a quiet respite from the honking and noise from the outside traffic. There appear to be a few spots of calm amid the chaos all around, and Dhakeshwari is one of them.
Another, that is open to the public for a small fee is Lalabag Fort. This structure was originally intended to be for protection, but then the person given the responsibility for seeing it to completion, Subahder Shaista Khan, lost his beloved daughter and in 1688 turned the fort into a mausoleum instead. Bibi Pari’s tomb is in the middle/main building. The fort is remarkable for its Mughal architecture and especially for the extensive park surrounding the three main structures. There used to be functioning water fountains throughout, but the basins were empty, and it didn’t look like they had been used for a while. When the site was constructed the Buriganga River ran directly behind it, so there was never any problem with obtaining water and was a perfect location for a lookout tower. Since then, the river has been diverted and is no longer anywhere near the Fort. Even without the fountains, though, many of the bushes had orange flowers and purple impatiens had been planted along some of the hedges and birds were happily chirping through the vegetation. In addition to the tomb, there is a 1704 mosque, which was closed off and another structure, the Diwan-i-Aam, which was the residence of the Mughal governor in Bengal; this building also has a hammam attached to it. The structure is being completely renovated with funds from the US Embassy in Dhaka.
Bangladesh was historically Buddhist and Hindu, but since the late Middle Ages, it is Muslim. The next stop was at a small but beautifully tiled mosque, the 19th c Star Mosque, named after the tile designs. The white background tiles also have floral motives in bright colors. Like at Dhakeshwari, the mosque was undergoing renovations to make the area in front a bit larger. Space is at a premium in Dhaka, so they are trying to be very careful not to waste any. There was only one worshipper in the mosque while we were there; he was deep in meditation repeatedly chanting “Allah.” He appeared sincerely dedicated so I hope his prayers are heard.
From the mosque we made our way to the Armenian Church, which has been tended to by the same fellow for 38 years. The church looks like a ship and is probably supposed to represent Noah’s ark. Armenian traders came to Dhaka, then called Dacca, in the 1700s, but when the capital was moved, they lost most of their business prospects. Most of the community had left by the late 1900s, and by the 1980s the church had fallen into complete disrepair. One ethnic Armenian couple took over and personally dedicated their lives, under various threats to their lives, to rebuilding the church. When they could no longer handle the work, they talked an Argentinian American into preserving the sacred site. The building today is freshly painted, the cemetery is immaculate ,and the garden of the caretaker’s house a mini park with flowering bushes and shade. It is a small oasis in the middle of the city.
Not exactly an oasis, but a bit out of the ordinary in this Muslim city, is the Shankari Bazar, otherwise known as Hindu Street. This area has the largest Hindu population in the city and the street has a number of small, but very nice, temples. They are primarily dedicated to Shiva, Durga, and Ganesha, but I did also see one to Vishnu. The shops here are renowned for their bangles, the armbands Hindu women wear, and they have been making them in the same style for centuries. Along the street are vegetable vendors that via for space with the trash on the ground. Sanitation doesn’t appear to be high on anyone’s mind.
It wasn’t on the river as well. Traffic and parking problems also seemed to be not just on the streets, but also on the river. Boats ferrying people from one side of Dhaka to the other were jamming into each other by the shore. There wasn’t a noticeable dock for the smaller boats, only for the large ones that take people on multi-day river cruises, including to the Sundarbans.
From the river we made our way through the massive traffic jams to the University of Dhaka, which was founded by the British in 1921. Curzon Hall, the administrative center, was built earlier in 1904, The University’s architecture is a mix of Colonial British and Mughal elements and is in a very large park-like enclave. It is a residential university as many of the students come from outside the city. I was told that the student population is around 35,000, but that seemed somewhat small to me as I walked around. Even though I couldn’t understand what the students were saying, I could comprehend the joy a few students had as they passed their exam papers around to their friends, and the frustrated look on a couple of young women, who appeared to be speaking not about their curriculum, but about their social lives. It doesn’t seem to matter what country one is in university student issues are the same globally.
Curzon Hall, which was being used as an exam hall, was the site where the Liberation from Pakistan movement began. It was in this Hall, that Pakistan declared Urdu to be the language of both East and West Pakistan, although, East Pakistan spoke Bangla, not Urdu. The students rose in protest and seven medical students were killed. A memorial to them is just outside the campus. A number of statues in a pseudo-Soviet style (this was in 1971 after all) show students of both genders holding hands ready to fight unitedly against oppression. The student revolt in Curzon Hall is considered the beginning of the move towards independence. The name Bangladesh comes from their language, Bangla, and desh means country. I was told that the UN made the 17th of April, their Independence Day, the day of Mother languages.
The last stop of the day was at the National Museum. It is one of the largest in SE Asia and has four main kinds of collections: Natural History, Ethnography, Archeology, and Modern History. While the first two were interesting, the archeological exhibits were what I had come to Dhaka for. I wanted to see what ancient Buddhist and Hindu artifacts were on display and wasn’t disappointed. There were some very interesting 6th-8th c terracotta Buddhist heads and Hindu related reliefs. Bronze statues of both Buddhist and Hindu deities. Terracotta reliefs of episodes from the Ramayana, and large 10th-12th C black basalt Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu figures. The workmanship on the filigree in statues is amazing. The statues and terracotta were found in a number of locations, some of which I am hoping to get to over the next week.
It was now after 3pm, which meant that the traffic was going to get even worse, if that were even possible, as people get off of work at 3 in order to save power. It seems that there are regularly scheduled times when the power goes out in addition to the unintentional blackouts. After seeing how the power cables are strung along the sides of the streets, I am really quite amazed that it doesn’t go out more often than it does, especially, with most people needing to use air conditioners. The day was hot and humid, far hotter than I had anticipated. Azim said that the temperature was abnormal for this time of year, Nov. 1, and that he believes a new major storm must be coming. I hope we can avoid it!
Tomorrow, we head into the rural areas, with a first stop in Puthia to see an ancient Hindu site and then on to Rahshahi and the banks of the Ganges.
